Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine take Australia to nail-biting draw in first Test against Pakistan

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Monumental effort from Khawaja, Head and Paine. They were superb. Pakistan's bowling was very ordinary and the captaincy extremely shoddy. I don't think Pakistan were short on overs. 140 overs are more than enough. But Sarfraz needs to take a long hard look at himself at how he captained in this Test match especially the 1st session today.

Not to take anything from Australia but those mocking the Pakistani bowling attack need to acknowledge that the pitch had seriously flattened. To pick up 8 wickets on that graveyard was nothing short of miracle.

If anything Sarfaraz captaincy and Wahabs non impact need to be blamed

Not to take anything from Australia but those mocking the Pakistani bowling attack need to acknowledge that the pitch had seriously flattened. To pick up 8 wickets on that graveyard was nothing short of miracle.

If anything Sarfaraz captaincy and Wahabs non impact need to be blamed

Yeah true one had to just captain aggressively and other had to bowl in short bursts both of them were abysmal. If you can attack in last hour why not at 1st hour of the day lots of runs were on scoreboard. I think sarfraz deserves and wishes Anwar Ali and Nawaz in the team so he can only review there appeals

Not to take anything from Australia but those mocking the Pakistani bowling attack need to acknowledge that the pitch had seriously flattened. To pick up 8 wickets on that graveyard was nothing short of miracle.

If anything Sarfaraz captaincy and Wahabs non impact need to be blamed

If the pitch really is that docile then I think the blame should completely fall on how the Pakistani batsmen batted in the first innings.

Good teams would easily have put up 500 runs in at least 30 overs less. Pakistani batsmen robbed the bowlers of 30 overs in this test and cost themselves a test win.

Just like I expected, this lower order of Aus is no pushover similar to Eng. Probably they are the two lower order heavy sides in the world. And well played Pak, just could not finish it. A great game. One of the greatest saving efforts of last 30-35 years, probably will go and join that famous Artherton draw vs Sa in 1997 in the last 30 years.

We should move to day night test matches. Despite this being a thriller and my fav Haris Sohail scored a century i didnt like this match. Dead pitch, no crowd, no turn, no pace, nothing. Test cricket will die like this.

Sarfi as captain'll lead us to glory.Babar'll be our best odi bat & Haris'll be world class in tests

im on about how England ran riots against India this summer which you seem to have forgot and how pakistan drew their series away in england and its only logical for them to plan to win in SA.

Bro seriously, stop trying to do some banter with the Indians. They literally destroyed us twice in our own home most recently, we couldnt even reach the asia cup finals, lost to bangladesh and won against afghanistan only in the last over. The type of thrashing the Indian batsmen gave us, we should not indulge in banter with indians until the world cup starts.

It's in situations like this when you can tell the true cricket fans from useless posters (no offense for the latter but you know who you are).

The reality is, Bilal, Yasir and especially Abbas bowled like world class performers, no Aussie bowler came close to matching them and I doubt many if any on the planet would in such flat, dry, dead pitches. And yet one man trumped them all, a batsman who curbed his natural game, who stopped his usual fluid play and dug in...then dug in again....and dug in one last time. Khawaja played one of the truly great test innings. I think Smith's century in India was special, this may have been just as good.

It's in situations like this when you can tell the true cricket fans from useless posters (no offense for the latter but you know who you are).

The reality is, Bilal, Yasir and especially Abbas bowled like world class performers, no Aussie bowler came close to matching them and I doubt many if any on the planet would in such flat, dry, dead pitches. And yet one man trumped them all, a batsman who curbed his natural game, who stopped his usual fluid play and dug in...then dug in again....and dug in one last time. Khawaja played one of the truly great test innings. I think Smith's century in India was special, this may have been just as good.

I remember the Indian cricket team has had spinners in the past who were quickly figured out. Bowlers like Sivaramakrishna and Hirwani started strong but quickly faded.

Asif has gone from 6 for 36 to 0 for 87 in the space of one innings. I wonder if the Australian batsmen have figured him out.
@MMHS @sensible-indian-fan

6/36 in 23 overs are unreal figures on debut - this doesn't happen often in every decade. Hirwani & Shiva were quite decent leggi, but they started with 16 wickets & 12 wickets on debut (Shiva probably not on debut against Poms in 1985) - none can keep that level. I would like to take Bilal's 1st Test as 6/123 in like 58 overs - still brilliant - he'll be one of the greats of the game if by 38, he ends-up with 35 Tests for 170 wickets @25

I don't think there was much about figuring out - guy didn't get his 6fors with some mystery balls. His first one (Shaun), was a classic off-spinner's dismissal against lefti, 3rd one (Head) as well. 2nd one was a poor shot by Khwaja, but he was tied down as well by Bilal bowling round the wicket. 4th & 5th were again classical Offie's dismissal for right-handers on a turning track (caught at short leg) and 6th one last batsman trier to slog. A better plan by Aussies 2nd time - definitely. For a change on this dead slow wicket, they decided to wait for him to reach rather than pushing at him (his ball), which worked.

But, biggest culprit was PAK's fielding tactics - defending 462, even had Aussies were 303/4 at lunch, with 160 required in 2 sessions, one can always tighten screw & deny scoring - PAK was never in any threat of losing the game. Yet, Sarfraz went for defensive from start and allowed too many singles which doesn't allow spinners to target one batsman. I think, when you have plenty of runs, spinners don't mind conceding a boundary, if he can bowl 6 balls to one batsman with 4-5 catching fielders around. Same Bilal, defending 462 with 3 down already, under Misbah could have ended with another 5for. Last tour, Babar actually had 2 5fors in 2nd innings against Aussies - before that, Rehman ran through Poms. UAE is for finger spinners, provided that right tactics is applied.

Hope pankha base won't recall this post when next time Bilal gets wickets or Captain dynamic defends a total.

He seems to have turn and bounce which is a good combo. Need to see more of him really.

Originally Posted by MMHS

6/36 in 23 overs are unreal figures on debut - this doesn't happen often in every decade. Hirwani & Shiva were quite decent leggi, but they started with 16 wickets & 12 wickets on debut (Shiva probably not on debut against Poms in 1985) - none can keep that level. I would like to take Bilal's 1st Test as 6/123 in like 58 overs - still brilliant - he'll be one of the greats of the game if by 38, he ends-up with 35 Tests for 170 wickets @25

I don't think there was much about figuring out - guy didn't get his 6fors with some mystery balls. His first one (Shaun), was a classic off-spinner's dismissal against lefti, 3rd one (Head) as well. 2nd one was a poor shot by Khwaja, but he was tied down as well by Bilal bowling round the wicket. 4th & 5th were again classical Offie's dismissal for right-handers on a turning track (caught at short leg) and 6th one last batsman trier to slog. A better plan by Aussies 2nd time - definitely. For a change on this dead slow wicket, they decided to wait for him to reach rather than pushing at him (his ball), which worked.

But, biggest culprit was PAK's fielding tactics - defending 462, even had Aussies were 303/4 at lunch, with 160 required in 2 sessions, one can always tighten screw & deny scoring - PAK was never in any threat of losing the game. Yet, Sarfraz went for defensive from start and allowed too many singles which doesn't allow spinners to target one batsman. I think, when you have plenty of runs, spinners don't mind conceding a boundary, if he can bowl 6 balls to one batsman with 4-5 catching fielders around. Same Bilal, defending 462 with 3 down already, under Misbah could have ended with another 5for. Last tour, Babar actually had 2 5fors in 2nd innings against Aussies - before that, Rehman ran through Poms. UAE is for finger spinners, provided that right tactics is applied.

Hope pankha base won't recall this post when next time Bilal gets wickets or Captain dynamic defends a total.

Poor from Pakistan. Any Asian team except Afgans would have won in this situation against this depleted Aussie side. 140 overs , without their 2 best players of spin,being demoralized for bundled out for 202 in first innings ,playing last day on not an easy track,it had all the ingredients in favor of Pakistan.Congrats to Australia for chieving this draw

One thing about us Aussies is that we always fight and are always competitive, it comes from a strong sporting culture. India and all those types of countries are big in population and only play one major sport but yet can't compete with a small country population wise like Australia.

One thing about us Aussies is that we always fight and are always competitive, it comes from a strong sporting culture. India and all those types of countries are big in population and only play one major sport but yet can't compete with a small country population wise like Australia.

yes thtas true, thats why india is ranked 1st and 2nd in test/odi and you guys are ranked 3rd and 6th

Was an exciting match. Gave up when Khawaja and Paine were looking comfortable but when i saw they had both been dismissed I put my stream back on. When Siddle was LBW I went crazy. Frustrating we couldn't take the last 2 wickets but was a good game of cricket.